


Ride Forever

by Hadespuppy



Category: due South
Genre: Drabble, Gen, I'm Sorry, I'm broken too, Mentions of Death, but nothing that hasn't been in the news
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 14:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13789662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hadespuppy/pseuds/Hadespuppy
Summary: Ray found Ben in the bedroom. He should have been in their kitchen, finishing his breakfast before heading in to Regina for the day. Instead he was sitting in his boxers and undershirt, not moving, hardly even seeming to breathe.





	Ride Forever

Ray found Ben in the bedroom. He should have been in their kitchen, finishing his breakfast before heading in to Regina for the day. Instead he was sitting in his boxers and undershirt, not moving, hardly even seeming to breathe. He was sitting in the chair that in any other bedroom would be covered in clothes, but in theirs was actually used for reading, elbows on his knees, head bowed. The chair faced the bed, where familiar red serge was laid out, perfectly pressed, boots polished to a warm glow. There must be a special guest or event at the Academy; he didn’t wear the red very often. 

Ray must have made a noise, because Ben lifted his head just enough to look at him. His eyes were wet and unfocused, and his face. Ray had never seen his partner look so broken and forlorn. Even when they had had to make the decision to call the vet for Dief (and hadn’t the wolf made it for them in the end, curling up by the fire for one last nap before they could pick up the phone?) he had retained that essential, unbreakable quality that was  _ Fraser _ . 

Ray dropped to his knees in front of him. He should ask, but words wouldn’t come in the face of what he could now see was enormous, yawning grief. 

Ben’s mouth too worked soundlessly for a moment before he could force words out, although they were more a sob than proper speech.

“They left him out in the rain” 

It took Ray a moment to place who ‘they’ and ‘him’ were, and he had to scramble to catch up to what Ben was saying next. It seemed once he had started, he couldn’t stop.

“He was just a boy, and he was dead, and they left him in the dirt, in the rain for over a day. Like he was less than nothing. Just another dead indian.” He made a sound that might have been a humourless laugh. 

“And the media kept calling it the Boushie trial, as if he was the one on trial, when he was just a kid who maybe made a poor choice, and people are saying it was justified, but he’s still dead and he shouldn’t be, and there are people on the force who say he deserved it.” 

He looked past Ray at the uniform that had defined him long before he ever put one on. 

“How do I face my cadets and tell them that they have a duty to help people when it’s all for nothing? When the Oath of Office is just words, and there is no kind of justice at all?”  He gripped Ray by the shoulders suddenly, his eyes gone sharp and intense as if Ray were his only hope for salvation, “How do I wear a uniform I don’t believe in anymore?”

There was nothing Ray could say, so he folded Ben in his arms and held him as he sobbed. 

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like this should be part of a longer something, but I had to get this bit out. If you aren't from Canada, or are and have somehow missed the news in the last few weeks, the case I've referenced is the tragic death of Red Pheasant Cree youth Colton Boushie at the hands of a farmer named Gerald Stanley, who shot him in the head at point blank range and somehow was found not guilty. Everything about it is awful and sad.  
> There's some background here: [The long list of problems Colten Boushie's family says marred the case](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/colten-boushie-family-list-problems-gerald-stanley-case-1.4532214)  
> and here: [How the death of Colten Boushie became recast as the story of a knight protecting his castle](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/how-the-death-of-colten-boushie-became-recast-as-the-story-of-a-knight-protecting-his-castle/article37958746/?cmpid=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)  
> tissues recommended.
> 
> Concrit welcome. Comments are love.


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